This invention relates generally to the repair of wounds in blood vessels, especially arteries, and to the elimination of the hematomas that result from such wounds.
Those skilled in the art know that occasionally the repair of an artery following a medical procedure such as a catheterization procedure is not totally successful. As a result, the arterial wall is not completely sealed and blood is permitted to escape from the artery into the surrounding tissue. The escaping blood, while unnoticed at first, begins to permeate the surrounding tissue forming an increasingly large hematoma. This condition is referred to as a false aneurysm.
Although a false aneurysm may spontaneously correct itself, often it does not. In the past, when it did not spontaneously correct itself, surgical intervention was called for to repair the artery and to relieve and drain the hematoma.
A device and method for sealing holes in arteries by pressing a plug of collagen or some other hemostatic material over the hole and against the outside of the artery wall is described in co-pending application Ser. No. 746,339, assigned to Datascope Corp., assignee of this application.